Edward Abrahams, Executive Director of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, a non-profit educational and advocacy group representing diverse members with an interest in advancing medical progress through the adoption of personalized medicine concepts and products, brings extensive experience in industry, academia, and government to the position. As former Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association, Dr. Abrahams managed all aspects of the Association, including public advocacy, medical relations, and educational programs, tripling its size and revenues in three years. He also spearheaded the successful effort that led to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's investment of $200 million to commercialize biotechnology in that state.
Previously, Dr. Abrahams had been Assistant Vice President for Federal Relations at the University of Pennsylvania, and also held a senior administrative position at Brown University. Before becoming a university administrator, Dr. Abrahams worked seven years for the United States Congress, including as a legislative assistant to Senator Lloyd Bentsen and as an economist for the Joint Economic Committee under the chairmanship of Congressman Lee Hamilton. In addition to articles in both popular and professional journals, he is the author of The Lyrical left: Randolph Bourne, Alfred Stieglitz and the Origins of Cultural Radicalism in America.
President
Genzyme Genetics
Mara Aspinall is the President of Genzyme Genetics, a leading worldwide provider of testing and consultative services. Genzyme Genetics is a division of Genzyme Corporation, one of the world's largest biotechnology firms with more than 8,000 employees and more than $2.5 billion in revenue.
From its roots 20 years ago, Genzyme Genetics has established itself as one of the industry's foremost independent diagnostics businesses, performing more than one million tests annually, while leading the personalized medicine, prenatal, postnatal, infertility and oncology testing markets. Genzyme Genetics has eight laboratories across the U.S. and employs the nation's largest network of board-certified genetic counselors. Genzyme Genetics has achieved record growth while setting the quality standard within the diagnostics industry. Most recently, Genzyme Genetics acquired the assets of IMPATH, Inc., one of the nation's largest cancer testing companies, making Genzyme Genetics one of the top commercial laboratories in the U.S.
Under Mara's leadership, Genzyme Genetics has expanded its range and reach in the marketplace. The division has successfully completed and integrated four acquisitions, expanded research and development programs, and initiated new programs for community outreach and education.
Mara previously served as President of another Genzyme division, Genzyme Pharmaceuticals. In her four years as President, she restructured the business from generic drug manufacturing to value-added custom production. She built a new international management team that created more than 25% annual growth.
Prior to joining Genzyme, Mara was Director of Client Services at Hale and Dorr LLC, and was responsible for the firm's worldwide practice and development, strategic planning and marketing. Mara started her business career at Bain & Company, an international strategic consulting firm. At Bain, she specialized in developing and implementing business strategies for health care product and service companies.
Mara combines her professional life with active involvement in the community. Her two most important areas of focus are: 1) The fight against cancer: Mara is an active Board member of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, where she sits on the Executive Committee as well as the Trustee Science Committee. She has previously served as Chairman of the Board of the American Cancer Society, Massachusetts. During her tenure at ACS, she oversaw the process of merging the Massachusetts chapter into a newly formed New England American Cancer Society. 2) Expanding educational opportunities for young children: Mara co-chairs Early Education for All, an advocacy campaign to establish statewide standards for pre-school education. As a trustee of The Children's Museum, Mara led the Early Childhood Education task force. As a member of the Leadership Council of United Way, she lobbied successfully for the home visiting program for first time young mothers. Mara is a frequent speaker to regional and national organizations on creating business and legislative support for children's educational programs.
Her Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School was enriched with the John P. Stevens Prize for leadership. She has served on the board of the HBS Network for Women. A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University, Mara majored in International Relations.
Chief Executive Officer and Founder
Genomic Healthcare Strategies
At Genomic Healthcare Strategies, Keith Batchelder evaluates partnership and commercialization opportunities for "personalized medicine" IP, drugs and technologies along with their potential for success in the markets. He gained this experience by servicing venture capital, pharma and biotech organizations.
Dr. Batchelder served as chief technical officer of WorldCare International Clinical Trials, enabling drugs to receive regulatory approval at the end of Phase II clinical trials by using surrogate endpoints. He was a core member of Harvard Salud Integral, a new HMO in Mexico City, growing the plan to over 150,000 covered lives. As a principal of AMICAS, he helped make Web based radiology (510k approved) a viable software company (liquidity event in 2002).
Dr. Batchelder was on the professional staff of Massachusetts General Hospital for 8 years. He was educated at Middlebury College, the Hahnemann University School of Medicine, and received postgraduate training in Medical Informatics at The Boston VA Hospital.
Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and Corporate Development
Senior Geneticist, Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology
Laboratory Corporation of America
Dr. Paul Billings is Senior Vice President for Corporate Development and Strategy at Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp) and Senior Geneticist at LabCorp’s Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology. He had been Vice President and National Director of Genetics and Genomics previously. LabCorp with over $3 billion in annual revenue and 24 thousand employees is one of the largest providers of genetic and genomic tests in the world, developing and applying new technologies to support the highest quality research and health care. He is also a Co-Founder of GeneSage, Inc. where he recently acted as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific and Medical Officer. GeneSage is a new company that seeks to translate the promise of progress in human genetics in to solutions for health care providers and consumers. He has been Editor-in-Chief of GeneSage's GeneLetter, the leading on-line magazine of genetic medicine, society and culture. In addition, Dr. Billings is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley (Adjunct) and is past Principal Investigator on a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded projects studying the impact of genomic medicine on health care. Prior to joining LabCorp, Dr. Billings was Vice President for Life Sciences and Clinical Affairs at WIPRO, Ltd., via its subsidiary WIPRO HealthScience. WIPRO, based in India, is a leading global provider of consultative products and services to improve the efficiency and quality of health care.
Dr. Billings has been a member of the faculties at Harvard Medical School, the University of California at San Francisco, Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley. He has also served as Chief of the Division of Genetic Medicine and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Medicine at Pacific Presbyterian Medical Center in San Francisco (now called the California Pacific Medical Center) where he founded the Center for Inherited Diseases and led the Program in Genetics and Society, the Center for Adults with Cystic Fibrosis, the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment and Management Program, as well as the Prenatal Diagnostic Center at Alta Bates Hospital.
Dr. Billings received his MD and PhD degrees from Harvard University in 1979. He completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine and Medical Genetics at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1983. He is a Founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics, a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a past Distinguished Lecturer for the national science society, Sigma Xi. He chairs the Medical Advisory Board of Cord Blood Registry, Inc. where he previously was Medical Director, and has been Board Chairman of the Alpha-1 Association and the Council for Responsible Genetics. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Cord Blood Donor Foundation and the Cardiac Arrhythmia Research and Education Foundation.
Principal, Pharmaceutical and Medical Products Practice
McKinsey & Company, Inc.
Michael Conway is a Director in McKinsey's Philadelphia office. Since joining McKinsey in late 1993, Michael has primarily worked in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, private equity, and public health arenas. Michael is currently the leader of McKinsey Global Public Health Sub-sector, and he leads Advance Professional Degree Recruiting (MD, PhD, and JD). The main focus of his client work is on product licensing, corporate strategy, product strategies, operations improvements, and organizational design.
Michael is the co-leader of McKinsey's knowledge initiative in Personalized Medicine. Michael has worked with several major pharmaceutical companies on personalized medicine-related partnering strategies and elements of product strategies. Michael has also participated in a broad range of discussions on personalized medicine topics with academic medical centers, pharmaceutical companies and payors.
Michael holds a B.S. in biochemistry from Texas A&M University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Dako Corporation
Patrik Dahl??n, Ph.D. and M.Sc. Biochemistry, is CEO of Dako A/S, one of the leaders in cancer diagnostics. He has a background from managerial positions in the diagnostics and life sciences industries. Before Dako, he was CEO of BioImage, a life science company that has pioneered the field of High Content Pathway Analysis. Patrik Dahl??n's career includes positions with PerkinElmer Inc., where he was president of the Life Sciences business unit, and EG&G Wallac OY, where he was head of the Diagnostics Systems Division.
Vice President and Head of Product Development
Aetna, Inc.
Robin Downey is Senior Vice President of Product Development for Aetna, one of the nation's leading health benefits organizations. In her role, she is responsible for creating the evolution of the company's portfolio of health benefits which includes a broad array of consumer-directed products, performance networks, HMO, PPO, POS, and indemnity products. She works closely with leaders from throughout the Aetna organization, as well as Aetna customers and industry consultants, to ensure that the company's product offerings meet ever-changing constituent needs.
Downey continues to help the company remain in the forefront of health care consumerism through a variety of industry firsts. These include the first fully insured offering for middle market employers, and the first fully integrated and stand-alone pharmacy and dental products. Aetna also was the first health benefits company to publicly announce an HSA offering in December of 2003. Downey's team also is responsible for developing the Aetna Navigator suite of consumer tools and information. In August 2005, Aetna continued its leadership position in the category as the first health benefits company to provide its members with online access to the actual discounted rates for the most common office-based procedures provided by primary care and specialist physicians.
Vice President and Chief Information Officer
Partners HealthCare System, Inc.
John Glaser, PhD, is Vice-President and Chief Information Officer, Partners HealthCare System, Inc. Previously, he was Vice-President, Information Systems at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Prior to Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dr. Glaser managed the Healthcare Information Systems consulting practice at Arthur D. Little.
Dr. Glaser was the founding Chairman of College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) and is past President of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). He has been a member of the Board of the American Medical Informatics Association.
Dr. Glaser is currently the Chairman of the eHealth Initiative Board and the Senior Advisor for National HIT Adoption for CHIME. He is a Senior Advisor to the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.
He is a fellow of HIMSS, CHIME and the American College of Medical Informatics. He has been awarded the John Gall award for healthcare CIO of the year. CHIME has established a scholarship in Dr. Glaser’s name. He was a recipient of CIO Magazine's 20/20 Vision Award. Partners HealthCare has received several industry awards for its effective and innovative use of information technology.
Dr. Glaser has published over one hundred articles and four books on the strategic application of information technology in healthcare.
He holds a Ph.D. in Healthcare Information Systems from the University of Minnesota.
Director, Venous Thromboembolism Research Group
Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women's Hospital,
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Samuel Z. Goldhaber, MD, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Staff Cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), is Director of the BWH Venous Thromboembolism Research Group. As Founder and Director of the BWH Anticoagulation Service, which cares for more than 1,900 active patients, he conducts research on optimal effective and safe warfarin anticoagulation, pharmacogenomics, and novel anticoagulant agents. He is an active clinician, attending on the Cardiology Services of Brigham and Women's Hospital and evaluating outpatients with cardiovascular and thrombotic illnesses. Dr. Goldhaber co-directs three Harvard Medical School Continuing Medical Education courses: 1) a 5-day course reviewing all aspects of cardiovascular medicine, 2) a 2-day course reviewing thrombosis and thromboembolism, and 3) a 1-day course that focuses on venous thromboembolism prophylaxis. On behalf of the North American Thrombosis Forum, Dr. Goldhaber is also organizing a February 17, 2007 Thrombosis Summit meeting in Boston.
Professor of Management Practice
Harvard Business School
Richard Hamermesh is the MBA Class of 1961 Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School where he teaches in the MBA Program and is the Faculty Chair of the HBS Healthcare Initiative. Richard created and teaches the second-year MBA elective, Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital in Healthcare. Previously, he was the Course Head for the required first year course entitled The Entrepreneurial Manager.
From 1987 to 2001, Richard was a co-founder and a Managing Partner of The Center for Executive Development, an executive education and development consulting firm. Prior to this, from 1976 to 1987, he was a member of the faculty of the Harvard Business School.
Richard is also an active investor and entrepreneur, having participated as a principal, director, and investor in the founding and early stages of over 20 organizations. These have included start-ups, leveraged buy-outs, industry roll-ups, and non-profit foundations. He was the founding president of the Newton (MA) Schools Foundation and served on the editorial board of the Harvard Business Review. He is currently on the Boards of one public and two private corporations, as well as two non-profit Boards. From 1991 to 1996, he was the founding Chairman of Synthes Spine, Inc. Richard's best-known book, Fad-Free Management, was published in 1996. Richard received his BA from the University of California, and his MBA and DBA from HBS. He is married, has two children, and his hobbies include tennis, skiing, and yoga.
Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration
Harvard Business School
Regina E. Herzlinger is the Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration Chair at the Harvard Business School. She was the first woman to be tenured and chaired at Harvard Business School and the first to serve on a number of corporate boards. She is widely recognized for her innovative research in health care, including her early predictions of the unraveling of managed care and the rise of consumer-driven health care and health care focused factories, two terms that she coined. Money has dubbed her the "Godmother" of consumer-driven health care.
Regina Herzlinger received her Bachelor's Degree from MIT and her Doctorate from the Harvard Business School.
Her research has been profiled in numerous industry journals and business publications, such as The Economist and BusinessWeek. Her newest book, Consumer-Driven Health Care: Implications for Providers, Payers, and Policymakers (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004), was profiled in "Are you ready to own your health care?" Money, November 2004, and received the 2004 American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year award for History and Public Policy. Earlier research results were profiled by The Wall Street Journal (November 2002), Managed Health Care Executive (June 2003, cover). Her July 2002 Harvard Business Review article, "Let's Put Consumers in Charge of Health Care," was an Amazon ebooks best seller. She has also won the American College of Healthcare Executives' Hamilton Book of the Year award twice, the Healthcare Financial Management Association's Board of Directors award, and Management Accounting's research prize. Modern Healthcare readers selected her as one of 2003's, 2004's and 2005's "100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare" and Managed Healthcare named her as one of health care's top ten thinkers. In recognition of her work in nonprofit accounting and control, she was named the first Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Visiting Professor at the University of Edinburgh. In addition, she has delivered many keynote addresses at annual meetings of large health care and business groups and been selected as one of the outstanding instructors of the Harvard Business School MBA Program.
Mrs. Herzlinger has served on the Scientific Advisory Group to the U.S. Secretary of the Air Force and as a board member of many publicly-traded firms, often as chair of several Governance and Audit subcommittees. She is also an active participant in the HBS Healthcare Initiative.
Program Director, Lowe Center For Throacic Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Bruce E. Johnson, MD is Director of the Carole M. and Philip L. Lowe Thoracic Oncology Program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). He is also Director of the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Thoracic Oncology Program and leads the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Lung Cancer Program that includes the seven Harvard Medical School affiliated institutions.
Dr. Johnson is the principal investigator of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Lung Cancer, and holds the position of Associate Professor of Medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
His laboratory-based research is devoted to testing novel therapeutic agents for their efficacy against lung cancer and other thoracic malignancies. His group helped discover that patients with partial and complete responses to specific epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors have mutations in the receptor. Dr. Johnson leads a research team that is applying these findings to the clinical treatment of patients with lung cancer.
Dr. Johnson is active in various organizations at the national and international level. He is currently chair of the biology subcommittee of the external scientific committee for the National Cancer Institute's National Human Genome Research Institute Pilot Project Characterizing Cancer Genomes and was the chair for the National Cancer Institute's review committee on Early Detection Research Network: Biomarkers Development Laboratory. He served as chair of the American Society of Clinical Oncology Communications Committee for the last three years, and became chair of the Education Committee in July 2007. He is Chair of the Committee that drafts the National Cancer Center Network Guidelines on the treatment of small cell lung cancer and recently received the Tisch Family Outstanding Achievement Award in Translational and Clinical Research in Solid Tumors from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Dr. Johnson has authored over 135 original reports in peer-reviewed journals and more than 80 reviews, chapters and editorials. He serves on the editorial board of Clinical Cancer Research, International Journal of Oncology and Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Dr. Johnson earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard College and received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota in 1979. He completed his postgraduate training at the University of Chicago and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). He joined The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 1999, after serving at NCI as the head of the Lung Cancer Biology Section.
Marcia Kean was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Feinstein Kean Healthcare (FKH) in December 2002. She has close to 30 years of health care industry experience, including senior positions with pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical service firms and non-profit research organizations.
In 2003, Mrs. Kean initiated at FKH the first Molecular Medicine communications practice in the country. The Molecular Medicine Practice provides communication counsel and services to companies and related policy organizations focused on new technologies, products, policies and issues in the emerging field of genomic-based medicine and health. Among the clients of FKH's Molecular Medicine practice are the National Cancer Institute, the Personalized Medicine Coalition, Harvard Medical School-Partners Healthcare Center for Genetics and Genomics (HPCGG), University of California at San Francisco, Baylor College of Medicine, Monogram Biosciences, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).
Mrs. Kean is a member of the Genetics Advisory Council of HPCGG, and serves as an advisor to the Board of the Personalized Medicine Coalition. She holds an MBA in Finance from New York University and a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Chief Executive Officer
The Danish Medicines Agency
Jytte Lyngvig has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Danish Medicines Agency since 2000. Previously, she was the Director of the public market segment and international assignments at Mercuri Urval A/S. Before that, Dr. Lyngvig was the Development and Marketing Director in HT at Copenhagen Transport. She also worked as both a Technical/Administrative Official and Consultant in documentation structure in the Ministry of Environment in Denmark.
Dr. Lyngvig has been a member of the E.M.E.A Management Board since 2000, and has been Vice-Chair of the Board since 2003. She is also a member of the following professional bodies: IDA - The Society for Danish Engineers; Heads of Medicines Agencies Management Group, Chair; Advisory Board for TOPRA (The Organization for Professional in Regulatory Affairs); Advisory Board for Informatics and Mathematical Modelling (Institute of Technical University of Denmark); Advisory Board for the Danish Agency for Governmental Management.
Dr. Lyngvig graduated in chemical engineering from the Technical University of Denmark, where she went on to complete her doctorate degree in socio-economic planning.
Vice President, Business Development-Pharmaceuticals
Roche Molecular Diagnostics
Christine A. Meda is currently the VP, Business Development at Roche Molecular Systems, a Business Area of Hoffman-LaRoche. Chris joined Roche Molecular at the end of 2002 as VP, of the worldwide Women's Health Business Segment. In that role, she was responsible for the strategic direction of the Women's Health portfolio. This responsibility oversaw funding for research/development/sales and marketing/business development/operational activities and included the launches of real-time PCR diagnostic products for Chlamydia, Human Papillomavirus (HPV), Herpes Simplex virus and Strep B.
Prior to joining Roche, Chris held several positions at Schering AG pharmaceuticals. First, as Director of the CNS portfolio which included all life cycle and marketing activities for Betaseron, a multiple sclerosis treatment and then as Medical Affairs Director responsible for Phase I, II and IV clinical trials for their hematological oncology drugs: Fludara, CamPath and Leukine. In the latter capacity, her responsibilities extended to the oversight of several clinical research organizations and to the co-chair of the investigator sponsor studies committee.
The remainder of Chris' nineteen years in the healthcare industry is comprised of executive positions at Bio-Rad Laboratories where she managed the research and development/global marketing/global technical support groups for the immunoassay reagent and CODA microtiter plate system portfolio as Business Unit Manager; Meridian Diagnostics as VP of Global Marketing for their worldwide markets and Diagnostic Products Corporation where she held numerous positions in sales and marketing including Senior Director of Global Sales and Marketing of the infectious disease and allergy reagent and systems portfolio.
Christine has a B.S. degree from State University of New York, Potsdam Campus and has completed numerous executive development programs at Schering AG and Roche. She currently lives with her husband and two children in Walnut Creek, CA.
Jeff Miller is Vice President of Worldwide Health and Life Sciences Industries and is responsible for driving health, life sciences, and pharmaceutical industry marketing, partner and alliance, business planning and solutions development strategies, and overseeing sales activities.
Miller and his team are responsible for developing technology solutions that increase access to vital information and improve patient care by integrating devices, systems, people & organizations to gain new decision-enabling insights and to increase business agility. Miller also is actively involved with government and industry leaders and organizations worldwide to increase the adoption and use of technology in the health and life sciences industry.
Miller joined HP in July 2004, bringing more than twenty years of professional experience in strategic planning, product development and operational process improvement for organizations in the healthcare, manufacturing and technology industries. Before joining HP, Miller was Executive Director at the Advisory Board Company, where he led the development and delivery of management consulting services for hospitals and health systems. Prior to this, Miller was a Partner in Health and Life Sciences at Deloitte Consulting, where he led the sales and delivery of a diverse set of consulting engagements for health care providers and life sciences clients, including Kaiser Permanente, Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health and Pfizer. He also collaborated with Hospitals and Health Networks magazine to create the Most Wired Hospitals and Health Systems program which focuses on identifying the role of information technology in connecting the different members of the health ecosystem. Previously, he was a Program Director at IBM, where he managed a variety of business strategy, product planning, and development organizations, and introduced HealthVillage, an Internet Application for healthcare providers and payors.
Miller holds an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and a BA in Economics from Northwestern University in Chicago. He is based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Dr. Elizabeth G. Nabel, a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, received her M.D. degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1981. She then completed an internship and residency in internal medicine followed by a clinical and research fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard University. In 1987, she joined the faculty at the University of Michigan as an Assistant Professor of Medicine and rose through the ranks, becoming Director of the Cardiovascular Research Center in 1992, Professor of Medicine and Physiology in 1994, and Chief of the Division of Cardiology in 1997. A cardiologist with extensive clinical experience, Dr. Nabel has had a distinguished career as a researcher. While at the University of Michigan, she became known for her research in the fields of vascular biology and molecular cardiology and for her gene transfer studies of the cardiovascular system.
Dr. Nabel joined the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in 1999 as the Institute's Scientific Director of Clinical Research. In 2005, Dr. Nabel became Director of the NHLBI, where she oversees an extensive national research portfolio of basic and clinical research to prevent, diagnose, and treat heart, lung, and blood diseases. The Institute also conducts educational activities for health professionals, patients, and the general public. The NHLBI budget for fiscal year 2006 is approximately $3.0 billion, and she is responsible for approximately 850 Federal employees.
Dr. Nabel has made many contributions to basic and clinical research on the pathogenesis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. She has long championed the concept "from bench to bedside" which is reflected in her work that intertwines basic research and translation to clinical medicine. Early in her career, she made seminal discoveries regarding genetic therapies for cardiovascular disease, having developed methods for the introduction and expression of recombinant genes into blood vessels. These basic studies were instrumental in designing device therapies, in combination with genes or drugs, to treat the vascular disease restenosis. In addition, Dr. Nabel has delineated the mechanisms by which cell cycle and growth factor proteins regulate the proliferation of vascular cells in blood vessels, a process important for the development of atherosclerosis and restenosis. Her vascular biology laboratory has characterized the role of cell cycle inhibitors on vascular proliferation and inflammation, and this research has opened up new avenues for therapeutic targets in the vasculature. Dr. Nabel's current research focuses on the molecular genetics of vascular diseases. She is conducting clinical studies to understand the contribution of genetic factors to proliferative and inflammatory diseases in blood vessels, including common diseases like atherosclerosis and the rare, premature aging syndrome, Hutchinson Gilford Progeria Syndrome.
Dr. Nabel has served as a Visiting Professor at major medical centers throughout the country. She has delivered major lectureships in Europe and Australia. Dr. Nabel has received numerous awards for her scientific accomplishments, including the Willem Einthoven Award from Leiden University in the Netherlands, the Amgen-Scientific Achievement Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Distinguished Achievement Awards from boththe Basic Cardiovascular Sciences Council and the Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology Council of the American Heart Association. In 2001, she received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, and in 2006, an honorary degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.
Dr. Nabel is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Physicians, as well as a Fellow of the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. She serves on the editorial board of many scientific journals, including being a member of the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine, and past Board of Reviewing Editors for Science and associate editor for the Journal of Clinical Investigation. A partner on 13 patents, Dr. Nabel is the author of more than 200 scientific publications, and she has mentored more than 45 students and fellows.
Investment Manager
Invest in Denmark, Royal Danish Consulate General's Office
Gitte Pedersen works as Investment Manager in Invest in Denmark. Invest in Denmark is a governmental agency, and a part of the foreign ministry of Denmark. Invest in Denmark facilitates expansion of US companies to Denmark e.g. Invest in Denmark played a pivotal role in Biogen's decision to establish a manufacturing plant in Copenhagen - a $350 mill investment. Gitte is heading up the biotech initiative in North America.
Previously Gitte worked for Novo Nordisk in a number of management positions within R&D and Marketing. Novo Nordisk is one of the largest Biotech Companies in the world and the market leader within areas such as industrial enzymes and insulin for treatment of diabetes. Gitte Pedersen co-authored 8 patents while working in R&D.
In 2000, Gitte Pedersen co-founded Genomic Expression, a company in Denmark and went to the finals in Venture Cup, a business plan competition arranged by McKinsey, for the best business plan in the Scandinavian region.
Gitte graduated from the Danish Technological University with top scores in Biochemical Engineering and she holds a bachelor's degree in International Trade.
Chief Academic Officer
Partners HealthCare System, Inc.
Dr. Daniel K. Podolsky serves as Chief Academic Officer of Partners HealthCare System and Faculty Dean of Harvard Medical School for Academic Programs at Partners. Dr. Podolsky also serves as the Mallinckrodt Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and since 1989 as Chief of Gastroenterology of Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School, followed by residency training in Internal Medicine and a fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Podolsky is an authority on inflammatory bowel diseases and other digestive disorders. His research interests have focused on the delineation of epithelial cell function, and his laboratory has made significant contributions to understanding the mechanisms through which growth factors and cytokines regulate epithelial function and the mechanisms of epithelial injury and repair. He is the author of more than three hundred original research and review articles, the past editor-in-chief of the journal Gastroenterology and has been actively involved in numerous national organizations, including serving as President of the American Gastroenterological Association in 2003-04.
Dr. Roberts joined Noonday in 2005 as a portfolio manager. Prior to joining Noonday, Dr. Roberts was an attending oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, an Instructor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, and a Visiting Scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also holds appointments at the MGH Institute of Technology Assessment and the MIT Program on the Pharmaceutical Industry. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.
Dr. Roberts obtained two baccalaureate degrees (Summa Cum Laude) from the University of Pennsylvania, including a Bachelors of Science from the Wharton School of Business. He obtained his medical degree from Harvard Medical School (Commencement speaker). Dr. Roberts performed his internal medicine training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and his medical oncology training through the Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care Oncology Fellowship Program. He has spoken widely and has published extensively on issues surrounding cancer drug development and pharmacoeconomics.
Dr. Rosenkrans is currently Scientific and Medical Strategy Director for External Scientific Affairs at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals. In that role he has responsibility for long-range strategy development supporting AstraZeneca's external scientific alliances and policy. He is also Vice-chairman and a member of the board of directors of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, a Washington DC based organization working with government and other agencies on evolving health policy for personalized medicine. He holds an S.B. in Biology from MIT, a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from Boston Univ., and received post-doctoral training in Cancer and Radiation Biology at the Univ. of Rochester.
Senior Director
Lead, Infectious Disease Therapeutic Area
Lead, Molecular Diagnostics
Global Molecular Profiling
Pfizer Global Research & Development
Dr. Sakul is currently a Senior Director in Molecular Profiling group within the Clinical R&D at Pfizer's Groton Laboratories where he is leading the Molecular Profiling efforts in Infectious Diseases. Additionally, he serves as the Molecular Diagnostics program lead in the same group.
Dr. Sakul is a native of Turkey where he completed his BS and MS degrees. Then he received a Rotary scholarship to pursue a Ph.D. degree in Quantitative Genetics at the University of Minnesota. Upon completion of his Ph.D., he pursued his postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Davis in quantitative genetics, animal genetics and international agriculture, followed by a short stint with the USDA as a Research Geneticist. Subsequently, Dr. Sakul moved to Sequana Therapeutics, a biotechnology company based in La Jolla, CA, where he led a Statistical Genetics group in linkage and association analyses of human genetics data to uncover genes predisposing to common and complex diseases. After his tenure at Sequana Therapeutics, Dr. Sakul held the position of Director of Statistical Genetics, Human Genetics and Pharmacogenetics programs with Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals in Alameda, CA where he built a group to provide genetics expertise to various Parke-Davis research sites. Due to site closure shortly after Pfizer's acquisition of Warner-Lambert, Dr. Sakul moved to Ardais Corporation in Lexington, MA as Vice President of Statistical Genomics, after which he returned to Pfizer to assume his current position.
Dr. Sakul has authored and co-authored over 30 refereed articles. He is also the author of several book chapters, numerous abstracts and presentations. He has served as ad hoc reviewer for several scientific journals, and served on various grant review committees. Currently, Dr. Sakul represents Pfizer on the Clinical Science and Technology Committee of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, and the Pharmacogenetics Working Group. Dr. Sakul is keenly interested in applications of pharmacogenomics and other -omics to programs in discovery, clinical development, and through post-marketing, and their applications in individualizing patient care.
Senior Director, Team Leader, HIV/AIDS, Worldwide Marketing
Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals
Andrew Schmeltz is a Senior Director, Team Leader of Worldwide Virology, where he is responsible for overseeing Pfizer's commercial strategy development and execution across HIV/AIDS, HCV and other viral diseases. He works closely with discovery research and clinical development colleagues to identify target compounds and to prioritize resources to address unmet patient needs.
Andy joined Pfizer in 2003 as a Director, Team Leader for Worldwide HIV/AIDS Marketing, where he developed strategy to build Pfizer's global HIV/AIDS portfolio. In that role, he led Pfizer's efforts related to launch preparation activities for the Company's HIV portfolio, such as advocacy development, medical education and publication planning.
Prior to joining Pfizer, Andy spent seven years at Abbott Laboratories in a variety of senior positions. As a marketing director, he led the U.S. marketing launch for Humira, a novel biological treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. Those efforts won him the 2002 President's & Chairman's Award for his outstanding performance and leadership. Similarly, he led the planning and implementation of U.S. marketing strategies for two antiretroviral agents, Kaletra and Norvir.
Andy is a graduate of Columbia University, where he majored in economics, as well as a graduate of the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, where he earned an MBA.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Christine (Kricket) Seidman is a Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. She was recently named the Thomas A. Smith Professor of Medicine. She is also an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She was an undergraduate at Harvard College and received a M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine in 1978. Dr. Seidman served as an intern and resident in Internal Medicine at John Hopkins Hospital and received subspecialty training in cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She joined the staff at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 1987 and is currently the Director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Center.
Honors include: Marion Hypertension Research Award (1984); American Heart Association Clinician-Scientist Award (1986); Bristol-Myers Squibb Unrestricted Cardiovascular Research Grant Award (1990); American Heart Association Established Investigatorship Award (1992); Robert J. and Claire Pasarow Foundation Award in Cardiovascular Research (1992); American Heart Association, Edgar Haber Cardiovascular Award (1997); American Heart Association, Helen B. Taussig Memorial Lecturer (1997); Member, Johns Hopkins University Society of Scholars (1998); Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1999); Member, Institutes of Medicine (1999); American Heart Association, Basic Research Prize (1999); Gill Heart Institute Award for Cardiovascular Research (2000); American College of Cardiology, Louis F. Bishop Lecture (2000); Gill Heart Institute Award for Cardiovascular Research (2001); 12th Annual Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cardiovascular Research (joint recipient with Jonathan Seidman, PhD) (2002); Fellow, International Society Heart Research (2002); Distinguished Scientist, American Heart Association (2003); Cannon Award, American Physiologic Society (2004); Member, Association of University Cardiologists (2005); Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, The George Washington University (2005); Member, National Academy of Sciences (2005).
Chief, Lymphoid Malignancies Section
Metabolism Branch, Center for Cancer Research
National Cancer Institute
Dr. Staudt received his B.A. from Harvard College in 1976 and his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982. His Ph.D. thesis in the laboratory of Walter Gerhard defined somatic hypermutation as a rapid mechanism of antibody diversification during normal immune responses. Following internal medicine training, he joined David Baltimore's laboratory where he cloned and characterized the lymphoid-restricted transcription factor Oct-2. He established his laboratory in the Metabolism Branch, NCI, in 1988, and currently studies the molecular basis of human lymphoid malignancies.
Vice President, Clinical Practices & Therapeutics
Medco Health Solutions, Inc.
J. Russell Teagarden currently serves as Vice President of Clinical Practices & Therapeutics at Medco. He joined Medco in July of 1993 as Director of Clinical Programs. Prior to joining Medco, Mr. Teagarden served for 12 years as a Drug Information Specialist and as a clinical pharmacist specializing in critical care in the Chicago teaching hospital community.
Mr. Teagarden currently holds academic appointments at Rutgers College of Pharmacy, Ohio Northern University College of Pharmacy, and Albany College of Pharmacy. He was a visiting scholar in Department of Clinical Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health from September, 2001 to June, 2002.
Mr. Teagarden serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the P&T Society. He also serves on the Oversight Body of the American Medical Association Ethical Force Program.
Mr. Teagarden received a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from the University of Illinois College of Pharmacy, and he completed a residency in hospital pharmacy at Northwestern University Medical Center in Chicago. He also holds a Master of Arts degree in Research Methodology from Loyola University of Chicago, and is currently a candidate for a Doctorate in Medical Humanities at the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies of Drew University. He has published several papers on significant medical, pharmacy, and ethics issues.
Andrew C. von Eschenbach, M.D., is the Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and was formerly the 12th Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). A nationally recognized urologic surgeon and oncologist, Dr. von Eschenbach's distinguished career as a key leader in the fight against cancer spans nearly three decades.
Prior to being appointed to lead the NCI in January 2002, Dr. von Eschenbach served as Executive Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, leading a faculty of more than 1,000 cancer researchers and clinicians. At M.D. Anderson he also served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and held the Roy M. and Phyllis Gough Huffington Clinical Research Distinguished Chair in Urologic Oncology.
Dr. von Eschenbach, as founding director of the Prostate Cancer Research Program, was instrumental in fostering integrated research programs in the biology, epidemiology, prevention, and treatment of prostate cancer at M.D. Anderson where he also directed the Genitourinary Cancer Center. He joined M.D. Anderson as a urologic oncology fellow in 1976 and was invited to join the faculty the following year. Just six years later - in 1983 - he was named chairman of the Department of Urology. Other positions held at M.D. Anderson include Consulting Professor of Cell Biology and Professor of Urology.
Dr. von Eschenbach, himself a cancer survivor, has had an impact on the fight against cancer that extends beyond the clinical and academic communities. He is a founding member of C-Change and was president-elect of the American Cancer Society at the time of his appointment to the NCI. In addition, he has made significant contributions to the scientific literature -- more than 200 articles, books, and book chapters. Dr. von Eschenbach has also served as an editorial board member of several leading journals and on several organizational boards.
Many influential organizations have recognized Dr. von Eschenbach for his leadership and accomplishments; among them the American Medical Writers Association, the American Urological Association, and the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences. He also has been included in "The Best Doctors in America" publications. Included among his many honors are the 2003 Carpe Diem Award from the Lance Armstrong Foundation; the Achievement Award from the 100 Black Men of Metropolitan Houston for his significant contributions to prostate cancer programs in the African-American community, the Julie Rogers "Spirit of Love" Award for demonstrating unparalleled dedication, commitment, and spirit in the fight against cancer, and the American Radium Society Janeway Medal for outstanding contribution to cancer research and the care of cancer patients. In 2006, Time Magazine chose Dr. von Eschenbach as one of the 100 most influential people to shape the world.
A native of Philadelphia, Dr. von Eschenbach earned a B.S. from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia in 1963 and his medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1967. Dr. von Eschenbach completed internship at Philadelphia General Hospital and residency in urologic surgery at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia and then was an instructor in urology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He also served as a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps.
Senior Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer
Monogram Biosciences, Inc.
Bill Welch is Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer with Monogram Biosciences, Inc., where he oversees sales, marketing and commercial operations. Monogram Biosciences is a life sciences company committed to advancing personalized medicine and improving patient outcomes through the development of molecular diagnostic products that guide and target treatments. The Company is developing molecular diagnostics and laboratory services to assist physicians in better managing infectious diseases and cancers, and to enable pharmaceutical companies to develop new anti-viral therapeutics and targeted cancer therapeutics. Monogram is the leading provider of drug susceptibility testing for physicians and pharmaceutical companies in HIV. Monogram's oncology platform is its eTag technology, acquired through its merger with ACLARA Biosciences, Inc. (ACLARA) in December 2004.
Prior to joining Monogram Biosciences, Bill was an executive officer and Vice President, Sales & Marketing, with La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company. La Jolla developed specific therapeutics for antibody-mediated diseases and conducted the most comprehensive research and largest clinical studies in patients with lupus, including an NDA filed under Subpart H. Prior to La Jolla, Bill was Vice President of Global Marketing for Dade Behring MicroScan where he managed marketing and strategic development for this global leader in microbiology diagnostics. Bill entered the pharmaceutical industry with Abbott Laboratories where he held a number of progressive positions in management and general management in therapeutics and medical devices, serving hospitals and physicians offices.
Bill holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Harvard University.
Global Product Director
AstraZeneca
Dr. Catherine Wheeler has worked for AstraZeneca for six years in medical and team director roles and has most recently become Vice President, Strategic Planning and Business Development for Oncology and Infection. She began her industry career at Parexel International as Executive Director for Oncology. Dr. Wheeler trained in hematology and oncology in Boston at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Beth Israel Hospital, and for many year was Director of the autologous bone marrow transplant program at Beth Israel Hospital.
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Applera Corporation
Tony L. White became Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer of the company in 1995. He also chairs the company's Executive Committee.
Mr. White refocused the company purely on life sciences and transformed it into the leading provider of tools and information resources for that market. Mr. White led the recapitalization of the company in 1999, after which the company launched two separately traded common stocks, and also directed the effort to complete the sale of the company's analytical instruments division. Applera Corporation's Applied Biosystems group serves the life sciences industry and research community by developing and marketing instrument-based systems, consumables, software, and services. Applied Biosystems' products also serve the needs of some markets outside of life science research, which Applera refers to as "applied markets," such as the fields of: human identity testing, biosecurity, and quality and safety testing. Its Celera Genomics Group, which Mr. White was instrumental in creating in 1998, is primarily a molecular diagnostics business that is using proprietary genomics and proteomics discovery platforms to identify and validate novel diagnostic markers, and is developing diagnostic products based on these markers as well as other known markers. Celera Genomics maintains a strategic alliance with Abbott for the development and commercialization of molecular, or nucleic acid-based, diagnostic products, and it is also developing new diagnostic products outside of this alliance. Through its genomics and proteomics research efforts, Celera Genomics is also discovering and validating therapeutic targets, and it is seeking strategic partnerships to develop therapeutic products based on these discovered targets.
Mr. White graduated from Western Carolina University and held a number of management positions both in U.S. and international locations during a 26-year career at Baxter International, Inc. He served as Executive Vice President and was a member of the Office of the Chief Executive at Baxter prior to joining the company. He continues to serve on the Boards of Directors of C.R. Bard, Inc. and Ingersoll-Rand Company Ltd.
Senior Medical Writer
Wall Street Journal
Ron Winslow is deputy editor, health and science and a senior medical and health care writer for the Wall Street Journal. In the past 17 years, he has written more than 1,100 articles describing new medical and health care research and chronicling the forces of economics and innovation that are transforming the U.S health care system. He also helps edit and oversee the paper's health and medical coverage.
In 2003, Mr. Winslow received the American Heart Association's Howard L. Lewis Award for his coverage of cardiovascular disease for "consumers, practitioners, policymakers and business people." His work has also been honored by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and other groups. He is a member of the National Association of Science Writers and was a founding board member of the Association of Health Care Journalists.
Vice President, Development
Celera Diagnostics
Mike Zoccoli is Vice President of Development, Instrument Systems and Software for Celera, where he is responsible for development of new diagnostic assays and products, and for the management of the Design Control Process. He earned a BA in Chemistry in 1973 at the University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1978 from Dartmouth College. After post-doctoral studies at Harvard Medical School supported by fellowships from the National Institutes of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, he started his career in the diagnostics industry at Syva Company in 1982. He has worked for the past 24 years in positions of increasing responsibility in product development and project management in a number of companies including Cetus, Roche Molecular Systems, Applied Imaging Corporation, and Bayer Diagnostics.